Chifungula sues Katyoka

AUDITOR-GENERAL Anna Chifungula has sued a resident of Lusaka for allegedly swindling her of K100,000 over a piece of land in Lusaka’s Kabulonga residential area.
Dr Chifungula said on August 12, 2015, she entered into an agreement with Patrick Katyoka to buy a piece of land situated at stand number 40 Kabulonga valued at K1.4 million and gave him K100,000 as deposit.
She argues that Mr Katyoka, however, switched off his phone after signing a contract of sale and collecting the deposit, thereby making it virtually impossible for her to communicate with him.

Dr Chifungula’s claims are contained in a writ of summons filed in the Lusaka High Court registry last Friday.
“A week after signing the contract of sale, the plaintiff [Dr Chifungula] saw the same property she had purchased from the defendant [Mr Katyoka] re-advertised in the newspaper,” reads part of the court documents.
She contends that the parties agreed in clause eight of the special conditions of the contract of sale that she would pay him K100,000 as deposit upon signing the contract.
Dr Chifungula said she paid the money, from which Mr Katyoka said he would use K50,000 to pay off the loan he was owing to Brafus Limited.
She said upon contacting Mr Katyoka with some difficulty, as his phone remained switched off for most of the time, he denied having sold the property to her.
Dr Chifungula contends that Mr Katyoka, in denying the agreement, challenged her to produce evidence of the written contract of sale, a reaction she said shocked her.
She argues that when she showed Mr Katyoka a written contract of sale, he U-turned and promised to refund the deposit on or before the end of August this year but to date, he has not paid.
Dr Chifungula said Mr Katyoka keeps making promises to refund her but he has not done so, leaving her with no option but to believe that he has no defence to her claim.
“The defendant has clearly breached the terms and conditions of the written contract of sale, which provides for completion within seven days from the date of grant to vendor of the tax clearance certificate by Zambia Revenue Authority,” she said.
Dr Chifungula is claiming a refund of the K100,000 deposit paid to Mr Katyoka for failure of consideration.
She also wants the court to award her damages for breach of contract and interest from the date of payment of the funds and costs.

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